Source: Ben LARYEA
The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has challenged Western and Central African leaders to engage one another in the sharing of ideas to enable them address the emerging reforms in their educational systems to meet global standards.
He said Ghana have rolled out policies as part of the drive to build capacities in the educational sector to equip stakeholders with current skills in the 4th industrial revolution for socio-economic development of the country.
“Ghana’s policies on access to education have led to huge transformation which have impacted on the human resources base of the country due to the prudent measures on quality, equity and skills development,” he said.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia was speaking at a day conference on Ministerial Meeting for Western and Central Africa organised by the World Bank in attendance were representatives from the Ministry of Finance, Education, regional heads from West and Central African countries as well as World Bank officials.
The conference is aimed at endorsing a new roadmap to address learning crises and the need to advance reforms in education and deliver better access to quality education for young people across the region.
He urged ministers of finance and education from the said countries to focus more on technical and vocational education to enable young people acquire skills and be self-independent through entrepreneurship and operate their own enterprises.
The Vice President urged regional bodies and partners to collaborate and new areas at the educational front in the bid to leverage education through reforms to meet global best practices.
He therefore urged governments in the regional blocks to invest adequately in education and said the Ghana Free Sender High School programme have witnessed tremendous growth in enrolment.
In an address, the Minister of Finance, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta said countries around the world have observed the importance of education and its impact on the socio-economic development hence government will continue to prioritise education particularly technical and vocational and added that government will deliver quality education to build the human capital base of the country for job creation especially entrepreneurship.
The World Bank Vice President for Western and Central Africa, Mr. Ousmane Diagana said education systems across Western and Central Africa are experiencing crisis therefore countries in this regard must demonstrate commitment to address the challenge.
He commended stakeholders in the educational value chain for their inputs in the new roadmap to address the learning crisis adding it will bring to bear access to quality education.
The meeting was attended by ministers from 18 countries, as well as representatives from regional organisations and development partners including the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (UK FCDO), the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
In another development, the event witnessed the launch of the new World Bank regional education strategy “From School to Jobs: A Journey for the Young People of Western and Central Africa”, providing a roadmap for investments to improve learning and equip young people with the right skills to access productive jobs.
